Robotic safety using wearables

ABSTRACT

A system for increasing safety during robot-human collaborations in a manufacturing environment is provided. The method includes at least one wearable device for use by a human worker and an industrial robot in operative communication with the at least one wearable device. The industrial robot is equipped to detect location of the human worker using the at least one wearable device. The at least one wearable device may include an earpiece. The at least one wearable device may include a set of earpieces including a left wearable earpiece and a right wearable earpiece.

PRIORITY STATEMENT

This application is a continuation of U.S. Non-Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 15/361,992, filed on Nov. 28, 2016 and claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/261,779, filed onDec. 1, 2015 both of which are titled Robotic Safety Using Wearables allof which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to wearable devices. More particularly,but not exclusively, the present invention relates to the use ofwearable devices to improve robotic safety.

BACKGROUND

Robotic automation can provide for increasing overall productivity andefficiency. However, in many manufacturing contexts both robots andworkers may work alongside each other to provide human-robotcollaboration.

For example, consider automotive manufacturing where industrial robotsand human workers may work together on a production line. Industrialrobots such as industrial robotic arms may be used to perform variousassembly tasks. However, other tasks remain human tasks. One of theproblems associated with such environments is safety. Various robotmanufacturing equipment can exert tremendous force which has thepotential to harm human workers. Therefore, what is needed are methodsand systems which enhance safety during robot-human collaborations,especially in manufacturing facilities.

SUMMARY

Therefore, it is a primary object, feature, or advantage of the presentinvention to improve over the state of the art.

It is a further object, feature, or advantage of the present inventionto improve safety of human workers in manufacturing environments wherehumans and robots collaborate.

It is a still further object, feature, or advantage of the presentinvention to allow robots to locate human collaborators.

Another object, feature, or advantage is to stop, attenuate, or reversemotion of a robot to protect a human worker.

One or more of these and/or other objects, features, or advantages ofthe present invention will become apparent from the specification andfollowing claims. No single embodiment needs provide every object,feature, or advantage. Different embodiments may have different objects,features, or advantages. Therefore, the present invention is not to belimited to or by an objects, features, or advantages stated herein.

According to one aspect, a system for increasing safety duringrobot-human collaborations in a manufacturing environment is provided.The method includes at least one wearable device for use by a humanworker and an industrial robot in operative communication with the atleast one wearable device. The industrial robot is equipped to detectlocation of the human worker using the at least one wearable device. Theat least one wearable device may include an earpiece. The at least onewearable device may include a set of earpieces including a left wearableearpiece and a right wearable earpiece. The system may include awearable housing, a processor disposed within the wearable housing, atransceiver disposed within the wearable housing and operativelyconnected to the processor, and one or more sensors operativelyconnected to the processor. The one or more sensors includes at leastone inertial sensor. The processor may be configured to track changes inmovement of the human worker using the at least one inertial sensor andcommunicate position or changes in movement of the human worker to theindustrial robot using the transceiver. The industrial robot isconfigured to avoid contact with the human worker by stopping. Theindustrial robot may be configured to avoid contact with the humanworker by changing direction of motion. The industrial robot may beconfigured to reduce force of contact with the human worker. Theindustrial robot may include a robotic arm. The at least one wearabledevice may include at least one sensor for detecting position of theindustrial robot.

According to another aspect, a method for increasing safety duringrobot-human collaborations in a manufacturing environment is provided.The method may include providing a wearable device, providing anindustrial robot, determining relative position between the wearabledevice and the industrial robot, and altering operation of theindustrial robot when the relative position between the wearable deviceand the industrial robot is less than a threshold. The altering theoperation of the industrial robot may include stopping the industrialrobot or changing direction of motion of the industrial robot or theamount of force produced by the robot. The method may also provide forproducing an audible alert at the wearable device when the relativeposition between the wearable device and the industrial robot is lessthan the threshold. The method may further include producing a sound atthe wearable device wherein the sound is shaped to represent a spatiallocation of the industrial robot relative to the wearable device.

According to another aspect, a system for increasing safety duringrobot-human collaborations in a manufacturing environment is provided.The system includes at least one wearable device for use by a humanworker and an industrial robot in operative communication with the atleast one wearable device. The at least one wearable device isconfigured to detect location of the industrial robot. The at least onewearable device may be an earpiece. The earpiece may include an earpiecehousing, a processor disposed within the earpiece housing, and at leastone sensor operatively connected to the processor. The at least onesensor may be configured to detect location of the industrial robot byemitting a field and detecting when the industrial robot enters thefield. The earpiece may further include a speaker and the processor maybe configured to determine where within the field the industrial robotis located and to produce a sound at the speaker to alert the humanworker of the position of the industrial robot.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a system for enhancing safety duringrobot-human collaborations in manufacturing.

FIG. 2 illustrates another example of a system for enhancing safetyduring robot-human collaborations in manufacturing.

FIG. 3 illustrates a set of wearable earpieces for use in improvingsafety.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram one example of an earpiece.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Robots used in manufacturing can provide a significant risk to humanswho work near them particularly in the industrial setting such as in themanufacturing of vehicles or other products. Although generallydescribed in the context of industrial manufacturing, it is to beunderstood the present invention may be used in other contexts as well.

FIG. 1 illustrates one example of use of a wearable device inconjunction with a robot 2 which is operatively connected to or inoperative communication with a robot control system 40. The robotcontrol system 40 may be linked to any number of different industrial ormanufacturing controls or systems including those associated with one ormore assembly lines. One or more wearable devices such as a set ofearpieces 10 including a left earpiece 12A and a right earpiece 12B. Thewearable device(s) 10 may be in operative communication with the robotcontrol system 40 such as through a communication system having awireless transceiver 42 associated with the robot control system 40. Forexample, the wireless transceiver 42 may provide a Bluetooth or BLE linkor Wi-Fi or other radio link to the wearable devices 10 or may otherwiseprovide for communications with the wearable devices 10 through wirelesscommunications. The robot control system 40 may communicate with thewearable device(s) 10 directly, or alternatively, or in addition, therobot control system 40 may communicate with the wearable device(s)through an intermediary device or otherwise indirectly.

As will be explained in further details with respect to variousexamples, the wearable device(s) 10 interact with the robot controlsystem 40 in any number of different ways. For example, the wearabledevice(s) 10 may provide sensor data to the robot control system. Basedon this information, the robot 2 may take any number of actions whichmay include one or more actions such as stopping movement of the robot,changing direction of movement of the robot, decreasing the amount offorce exerted by the robot, or other types of actions.

FIG. 2 illustrates another example of a system for enhancing safetyduring robot-human collaborations. As shown in FIG. 2, there is a field6 surrounding an individual. The field 6 may be generated by one or morewearable devices and may be an electromagnetic field. The field may be acapacitive field or an ultrasonic field. One or more emitters may beused to generate a field and one more detector may be used to detectdisturbances within the field. Where multiple wearable devices arepresent there may be more than one field present. The field 6 oncegenerated may be used in several ways. First, a disruption of the field6 may be used to indicate the robot is in or may be located within thefield. When this occurs, the wearable device may communicate a messageto the robot 2. The message may indicate the robot 2 should reverse itsmotion, stop, slow down, use less force, or otherwise alter itsoperation as a safety precaution. The message may be communicated in anynumber of formats using any number of protocols and any number ofdifferent communication channels.

In addition, the wearable device may communicate information to theworker. For example, where the wearable device is an earpiece or wherethere are a set of earpieces, an audible alert may be communicated tothe worker to alert the worker 4 of the proximity of the robot 2. Thecloser the robot 2, the louder the sound may be. In addition, the soundsproduced by the earpiece may be three-dimensionally shaped, so theworker perceives the sound as coming from a location associated with theactual location of the robot.

FIG. 3 illustrates one example of a wearable device in the form of a setof ear pieces 10 in greater detail. FIG. 3 illustrates a set of earpiecewearables 10 which includes a left earpiece 12A and a right earpiece12B. Each of the earpiece wearables 12A, 12B has an earpiece wearablehousing 14A, 14B which may be in the form of a protective shell orcasing and may be an in-the-ear earpiece housing. A left infraredthrough ultraviolet spectrometer 16A and right infrared throughultraviolet spectrometer 16B is also shown. Each earpiece 12A, 12B mayinclude one or more microphones 70A, 70B. Note the air microphones 70A,70B are outward facing so the air microphones 70A, 70B may captureambient environmental sound. It is to be understood any number ofmicrophones may be present including air conduction microphones, boneconduction microphones, or other audio sensors.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a device. The device may includeone or more LEDs 20 electrically connected to an intelligent controlsystem 30. The intelligent control system 30 may include one or moreprocessors, microcontrollers, application specific integrated circuits,or other types of integrated circuits. The intelligent control system 30may also be electrically connected to one or more sensors 32. Where thedevice is an earpiece, the sensor(s) may include an inertial sensor 74,another inertial sensor 76. Each inertial sensor 74, 76 may include anaccelerometer, a gyro sensor or gyrometer, a magnetometer or other typeof inertial sensor. The inertial sensors may be used track movement ofthe worker which may be communicated to the robot control system.

Thus, a robot may track movement of a human worker who is wearing one ormore wearable devices. This may be accomplished by calibrating theposition of the human worker relative to the robot and then trackingchanges in movement of the human worker by examining sensor dataassociated with one or more of the inertial sensors. Thus, as the personmoves, and inertial sensor data is reported, the robot and/or itscontrol system may update the location of the person relative to therobot.

The sensor(s) 32 may also include one or more contact sensors 72, one ormore bone conduction microphones 71, one or more air conductionmicrophones 70, one or more chemical sensors 79, a pulse oximeter 76, atemperature sensor 80, or other physiological or biological sensor(s).Further examples of physiological or biological sensors include analcohol sensor 83, glucose sensor 85, or bilirubin sensor 87. Otherexamples of physiological or biological sensors may also be included inthe device. These may include a blood pressure sensor 82, anelectroencephalogram (EEG) 84, an Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) sensor, alactic acid sensor 88, a hemoglobin sensor 90, a hematocrit sensor 92 orother biological or chemical sensor. The various sensors shown may beused to collect information regarding worker health to further improveworker safety by alerting the worker or others when a health issue isdetermined.

A spectrometer 16 is also shown. The spectrometer 16 may be an infrared(IR) through ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer although it is contemplatedany number of wavelengths in the infrared, visible, or ultravioletspectrums may be detected. The spectrometer 16 is preferably adapted tomeasure environmental wavelengths for analysis and recommendations andthus preferably is located on or at the external facing side of thedevice.

A gesture control interface 36 is also operatively connected to orintegrated into the intelligent control system 30. The gesture controlinterface 36 may include one or more emitters 82 and one or moredetectors 84 for sensing user gestures. The emitters may be of anynumber of types including infrared LEDs. The device may include atransceiver 35 which may allow for induction transmissions such asthrough near field magnetic induction. A short-range transceiver 34using Bluetooth, BLE, UWB, or other means of radio communication mayalso be present. The short-range transceiver 34 may be used tocommunicate with the vehicle control system. In operation, theintelligent control system 30 may be configured to convey differentinformation using one or more of the LED(s) 20 based on context or modeof operation of the device. The various sensors 32, the processor 30,and other electronic components may be located on the printed circuitboard of the device. One or more speakers 73 may also be operativelyconnected to the intelligent control system 30.

It is to also be understood the same sensors or types of sensor used forthe gesture control interface 36 may be used in creating a fieldsurrounding a wearable device and detect intrusions into the field suchas from a robot. Thus, LEDs, ultrasound, capacitive, or other fields maybe created which extend outwardly from a wearable device associated witha worker to detect the presence of a robot.

A field emitter and detector may also be operatively connected to theintelligent control system 30 to generate an electromagnetic field orother type of field surrounding a user which a robot would interferewith if the robot was too close to the user. Disruptions in the fieldmay be emitted and then detected at the field emitter/detector 37 andcommunicated to and interpreted by the intelligent control system 30.For purposes of determining changes in a field, it is contemplated othertypes of fields may be used such as capacitive fields or ultrasonicfields or other types of fields which may be disrupted by the presenceof a robot nearby.

In some embodiments there are multiple ways to track relative positionsof the person wearing the wearable device and the manufacturing robot.For example, the earpiece may use inertial sensor measurements to keeptrack of position which may be communicated to the industrial robot. Inaddition, the earpiece may monitor changes in a field associated withthe user to determine position of the industrial robot. This providesadditional safeguards to assist in preventing accidents and injuries andthus is a further advantage. Also, where a person wears multiplewearable devices (such as two earpieces), additional tracking may beperformed independent for each wearable device.

The earpieces shown have additional utility in a manufacturingenvironment. For example, where there are loud noises it may bebeneficial to wear the earpieces to protect a worker from the loudnoises. Here, the earpieces may be configured to capture and reproduceambient sounds to the operator. This may be accomplished by using one ormore microphones on the earpieces to detect ambient sound and then tore-create the ambient sound at one or more speakers of the earpiece.Thus, even though the operator is wearing earpieces there is audiotransparency. In addition, as previously explained, because theearpieces may be inserted into the external auditory canal, speakerswithin the earpiece may be used to allow sound to be shaped so thesounds are perceived three-dimensionally.

Therefore, various apparatus, methods, and systems have been shown anddescribed for improving worker safety, particularly when humans areworking collaboratively with robots. It should be appreciated; however,various apparatus, methods, and systems may be used in otherapplications and other environments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for increasing safety during robot-humancollaborations in a manufacturing environment, the system comprising: aset of wireless earpieces for use by a human worker, the set of wirelessearpieces comprising: a wearable housing; a processor disposed withinthe wearable housing; an emitter operatively connected to the wearablehousing and the processor, the emitter is configured to generate a fieldaround the human worker; and a detector operatively connected to thewearable housing and the processor; and an industrial robot in operativecommunication with the set of wireless earpieces; wherein the industrialrobot is equipped to detect a location of the human worker using datafrom the set of wireless earpieces; wherein the industrial robot isconfigured to update the location of the human worker relative to theindustrial robot; and wherein a disruption of the field indicates theindustrial robot is located within the field and the set of wirelessearpieces communicate a message to the industrial robot indicating therobot is within the field.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the messagecommunicated to the industrial robot from the set of wireless earpiecesinstruct the industrial robot to reverse its motion.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the message communicated to the industrial robot fromthe set of wireless earpieces instruct the industrial robot to slow itsmotion.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the message communicated tothe industrial robot from the set of wireless earpieces instruct theindustrial robot to alter its operation.
 5. The system of claim 1,wherein the message communicated to the industrial robot from the set ofwireless earpieces instruct the industrial robot to reduce force in itsmotion.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of wireless earpiecesincludes a left wireless earpiece and a right wireless earpiece.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein each wireless earpiece further comprises: atransceiver disposed within the wearable housing and operativelyconnected to the processor; and at least one sensor operativelyconnected to the processor.
 8. A method for increasing safety duringrobot-human collaborations in a manufacturing environment, the methodcomprising: generating a field around a human worker wearing a wirelessearpiece having an emitter within the wireless earpiece to generate thefield; determining whether a disturbance within the field has occurredindicating a proximity between the wireless earpiece and an industrialrobot; receiving data at the industrial robot indicating the humanworker is in proximity of the industrial robot; communicatinginformation to alter an operation of the industrial robot when the fieldaround the wireless earpiece is disturbed by the industrial robot; andaltering the operation of the industrial robot.
 9. The method of claim8, further comprising the step of producing a sound at the wirelessearpiece when the field around the wireless earpiece is disturbed by theindustrial robot, wherein the sound is shaped to represent a spatiallocation of the industrial robot relative to the wireless earpiece. 10.The method of claim 8, wherein the altering operation of the industrialrobot comprises stopping the industrial robot.
 11. The method of claim8, wherein the altering operation of the industrial robot compriseschanging direction of motion of the industrial robot.
 12. The method ofclaim 8, wherein the altering operation of the industrial robotcomprises reducing the force of motion of the industrial robot.
 13. Asystem for increasing safety during robot-human collaborations in amanufacturing environment, the system comprising: at least one wirelessearpiece for use by a human worker, the at least one wireless earpiececomprising: a wearable housing; a processor disposed within the wearablehousing; at least one sensor operatively connected to the processor; andan emitter operatively connected to the wearable housing and theprocessor, the emitter configured to generate a field around the humanworker using the at least one wireless earpiece; and an industrial robotin operative communication with the at least one wireless earpiece;wherein the at least one wireless earpiece is configured to detect alocation of the industrial robot using data sensed by the at least onesensor; wherein the operation of the industrial robot is altered whenthe at least one sensor detects the industrial robot has disrupted thefield surrounding the human worker.
 14. The system of claim 13, whereinthe at least one sensor further comprises a detector.
 15. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the processor is configured to track changes inmovement associated with the human worker using inertial sensor datafrom an inertial sensor operably coupled to the processor andcommunicating position or changes in movement of the human worker to theindustrial robot using a transceiver operably coupled to the processor.16. The system of claim 13, wherein the altered operation of theindustrial robot involves stopping.
 17. The system of claim 13, whereinthe industrial robot is configured to avoid contact with the humanworker by changing direction of motion.
 18. The system of claim 13,wherein the industrial robot is configured to reduce force of contactwith the human worker.
 19. The system of claim 13, wherein the wirelessearpiece is configured to produce a sound at a speaker operably coupledto the processor when the location between the wireless earpiece and theindustrial robot is less than a threshold.
 20. The system of claim 19,wherein the sound is shaped to represent a spatial location of theindustrial robot relative to the wireless earpiece.